King of Kings offers a fix for players for whom basketball is blood

Dennis Nett/The Post-StandardBrandon Triche blocks a shot in the second half of his team's semifinal game in the King of Kings summer league.

With 46.5 seconds left in Friday’s King of Kings Summer Basketball League semifinal, Terry Smith motioned to his bench and to an official working the game to indicate that he was done for the night. Everybody understood the directive.

Smith’s Syracuse Elite, the league’s defending champion, trailed JD’s Finest 93-73 at that point. And Smith, the former Bishop Ludden star who has played overseas since graduating from Mercyhurst College, was concerned about a potential injury.

Already that night, he had awkwardly slipped twice beneath his own basket, the victim of a Utica Notre Dame gym that Brandon Triche described as “an oven.” Perspiration dripped from the faces and limbs of players who worked in the warmth of that gym. It pooled on the floor too quickly for the squadron of boys who mopped it up.

Smith will leave in a couple weeks for Bulgaria, his new place of basketball employment. He tries to stow stray thoughts of injury to a remote portion of his brain during these summer basketball sessions. He prays before each game, he said, plays as hard as he can and hopes for the best.

“When you worry about getting hurt,” he said, “that’s when you get hurt.”

But with the outcome a formality on Friday, Smith and his teammates bowed out. They had played the team of Triche, Dajuan Coleman and Alshwan Hymes – three Division I athletes – to a near draw at halftime before the JD contingent widened the lead to insurmountable lengths. They did so in a steamy gym full of friends, family and basketball addicts who appreciated the effort.

The King of Kings League is an interesting amalgamation of elite athletes who play at the game’s highest levels and the talented fringe faction for whom basketball is blood. They meet each week to talk trash, to show off, to feed the need to play a game so primal that the very real risks of injury fail to deter them.

“It’s just getting back to my old days, when it didn’t matter, when you played with no fear,” Triche said. “You played just because you loved the game. And that’s what this is. You’re playing hard, you’re not worrying about fouls. You try to play with energy, play a good game and put on a show for Central New York.”

Triche, the Syracuse University guard, plays for a team that represents his former high school and features his brother as a teammate and his dad as a coach. (Both are named Melvin.) Hymes, the Canisius guard, has been Triche’s best friend since sixth grade and is also on the team.

Triche and Hymes work out daily, lifting weights, hoisting shots, completing drills they hope will enhance their college basketball seasons. But those workouts can’t substitute for a chance to put those skills to use, to experiment with what they’ve learned. So they pile into their vehicles and make the hour-long drive to Utica, where basketball beckons.

“Basketball, when you’re playing, it’s just a different workout,” Hymes said. “You always gotta be in game shape, be able to react to things in a game that you can’t (simulate) in your workout.”

On Friday night, they played against Smith and his Syracuse Elite contingent. Smith, who is 26, sank five 3-pointers in the first half. He finished with 30 points. He slashed into the lane for lay-ups and sank impossible jump shots.

Since graduating from Mercyhurst, Smith has been on a basketball odyssey through Germany, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and now Bulgaria. Triche said he is as good as any Big East guard Syracuse will see this season.

Beside him on Friday was Chris Martin, a Corcoran graduate who scored 14 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Earlier in the week, Martin was tasked with stopping SU forward James Southerland. On Friday, he covered Triche, who managed nine points.

“I’m the type of person who wants to check the best person on the floor,” Martin said. “To see what they’re about. If they prove their point, they prove their point. I like playing upper level competition to see where my game’s at, what I need to work on.”

Martin longs to play somewhere for pay, to earn a living playing a game he loves. He acknowledges the sight of Triche, Coleman and Southerland motivates him to prove he belongs in their rarefied basketball company. One King of Kings organizer said the Syracuse Elite team plays as if each summer league contest represents the NCAA title game.

“They just play hard. That’s the kind of game you want to play,” Triche said. “You’re going to play games in the Big East that are going to be physical like this. They’re probably not going to foul as much. But they’re going to play hard.”

The players in Friday’s semifinals knew each other from high school or playground days. Hymes spotted Cornelius Vines, the Henninger and Hofstra graduate who played in the second semifinal. Hymes pointed to him at one point to emphasize that his 24 points were no accident.

“Cornelius Vines, he thinks he can shoot better than me. So I saw him and let him know my trey ball was on,” Hymes said. “Trash talking – that’s what makes it interesting.”

What makes it interesting for all these guys are the relationships and the game. Without King of Kings, Smith would feel the need to drive to New York City or Connecticut to find a game to challenge him. But then, he would miss the guys from the neighborhood and the chance to reconnect.

“I’m back in Syracuse playing against good competition,” Smith said. “I can stay in my hometown and get a good run every summer. It’s great.”

“It’s just getting back, playing with the people you grew up with. That’s the best part,” Brandon Triche said. “I’m getting a chance to play with my brother, who’s seven years older. It’s a great thing.”